Altar

Formed in the Christian stronghold of Hardenberg, Holland, death metal band Altar set out to confront the rules and tenets of organized religion. The original lineup consisted of vocalist Edwin Kelder, guitarists Marcel Van Haafe and Bert Huisjes, bassist Nils Vos, and drummer Marco Arends, who launched their campaign via the 1992 demo And God Created Satan to Blame for His Mistakes and then issued their first full-length album, Youth against Christ, in 1994. Their raw intensity quickly won over area listeners, while the broader sound of 1996’s Ego Art, which introduced guitarist Marcel Verdurmen, lifted their visibility and earned them a performance at that year’s Dynamo Festival. Guitarist Richard Ludwig and drummer Sjoerd Visch soon joined to solidify the group’s classic roster, after which Altar kept refining its approach on successive records: Provoke in 1998, In the Name of the Father in 1999, the 2000 mini-album Until Heaven Forbids, and 2001’s Red Harvest, released internationally through Crash Music.